It is important to recognise that behaviour is often an expression of a need not being met or a person not getting what they want. We will always seek to explore the cause behind a behaviour rather than focus on the behaviour itself.
Children in our school are individuals. They are always treated as such. We foster high expectations of all children's behaviour, work and relationships and to celebrate success widely. We build children's self-discipline, and a sense of pride and respect for themselves, their work, peers, school and the wider community.
The building of positive relationships is a fundamental component of life in our school. The building of these relationships is important for all children but it is essential for children who have experienced trauma or Adverse Childhood Experiences or have additional needs – for example children with attachment issues. For these children, positive relationships provide a sense of safety, security and belonging.
Expectations
The one word school rule at Dordon is RESPECT. This means pupils within school are expected to:
Ø Respect themselves
Ø Respect each other
Ø Respect all adults
Ø Respect the school environment
Rewards
At Dordon, we have many rewards that can be given to the children.
Verbal praise is given often in recognition of good work and meeting the expectations of RESPECT in many different ways.
GEMS are given using the Class Dojo system. GEMS are awarded to children and are collected across a half term. We award prizes for children with the most GEMS and also the children who received the most GEMS for respect.
G – Growth Mindset
E- Effort
M- Manners
S – Success
Visits to the Executive Headteacher and Associate Headteacher are encouraged to share positive contributions to school whether these are academic or to the wider school community.
Email home is sent on Friday to a child in each class who has shone for any reason across the week.
Celebration assembly happens once a week and celebrates success inside and outside of school.
Proactive support for children
The work of Dr R Greene suggests that all children will behave if they can. Where children struggle to do so it is as a result of lagging skills and in response to expectations they cannot meet. Where children are in this situation, staff in school will use a Plan B conversation. This process is to identify unsolved problems and to work collaboratively to find solutions. The staff member will identify an unsolved problem and then have a structured conversation with the child to determine a solution. This is a 3-step conversation and should take place as a pre-emptive measure to mitigate the risk of dysregulation.
De-escalation – a strategy in maintaining relationships
There will be occasions where people may experience anxiety or other feelings that may trigger certain behaviours. This is usually as an expression of an unmet need or not getting their desired outcome in a situation.
Our aim as a school is to employ strategies to avoid a person reaching their peak. We use a wide range of strategies to achieve this. This is dependent on the age of the child, circumstance, cognitive ability, needs of the children, etc. Interventions are tailor-made to the person involved.
For anyone who dysregulates (reaches PEAK) frequently, positive handling plans are implemented that outline strategies that prove to be most successful for an individual and those to avoid. It also outlines how the child can best support themselves in the regulation of their emotions. Involvement of the child in this process is intrinsic to its success.
Restorative conversation
Where it is felt a structured conversation is needed with an individual where a person hasn’t been directly affected, the following questions will provide the structure.
LISTEN- What has happened? What were you thinking?
LINK – How did you feel when this happened?
LEARN – What could you do next time?
Where a person has been directly affected by the actions of another, a conversation will take place together, by mutual consent, to explore the situation and repair the relationship.
The 6 questions to structure the conversation are as follows:-
Ø What happened?
Ø What were you thinking/ feeling?
Ø Who has been affected?
Ø What are you thinking/ feeling now?
Ø What needs to happen to put it right?
Ø Next time I could….
Logical Consequences
Our understanding of the term consequence is that it is a result or effect of an action undertaken by an individual. We believe that consequences should be logical and linked to the action. Therefore the consequence will be determined through the restorative conversation that takes place with those involved.
For example: A child who dysregulates and lashes out when they lost a game on the playground would be involved in a restorative conversation (including the harmed if appropriate and consent is given). A logical consequence here might be to have a graduated return to break times.
Exclusion
There may be occasions where the consequence of an action could be suspension from school on a fixed term basis. This is to allow school the time to review practice and put in place the plans necessary to minimise the chances of this happening again. If this were to happen, the child would have this explained to them so that their sense of belonging is not harmed.
All decisions to suspend or permanently exclude are made in line with the Community Academies Trust exclusion policy by the Executive Headteacher.